Made in Macao | Climb high on Double Yang

Jenny Lao-Phillips

Two things that usually come to mind when it comes to Chung Yeung Festival 重陽節 are ancestor-worship and mountain climbing. However, Chung Yeung Festival was not started as a day for ancestor-worship like Ching Meng Festival. In the past, it was mainly mountain climbing; the visiting to ancestors’ grave was added because most graves were built on the mountain. So, paying respect to ancestors without climbing up the mountain is not the Chung Yeung way.
Then how did the mountain climbing practice begin? Like any other festival, there is always a story behind it. During the time of the East Han dynasty, a man named Huan Jing was learning the way of Taoism with an immortal, or some said it was a soothsayer, or a Taoist monk. Anyway, the teacher warned Huan Jing that there would be a catastrophic plague in his village and he should escape into the mountain carrying with him “zhuyu” (cornelian cherry) and drink chrysanthemum wine; both were believed to have a cleansing effect against diseases.
Huan Jing did what he was told and took his whole family up a mountain. When they came back the next day, all their animals were dead.  He knew that they avoided the plague because they had gone high up, and also the “zhuyu” they were carrying and chrysanthemum wine they drank repelled pestilence. Since then, every year on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, people carried a small arm bag of “zhuyu”, drank chrysanthemum wine and climbed the mountain to commemorate that day.
The practice has been carried on for centuries, even though many of us have forgotten how it began. As a result, other practices were added to make the tradition of mountain climbing more meaningful.
Chung Yeung 重陽 literally means Double Yang. The Chinese believe in the idea of Ying and Yang, and they believe that the number nine is Yang. So the ninth day of the ninth month, being a Double Yang day, is auspicious. Since the Tang Dynasty, the Double Yang Festival has comprised of more than mountain climbing and drinking chrysanthemum wine to commemorate a near death experience.
The number nine is also used to refer to longevity in the Chinese culture. So, being a double nine day, the drinking of chrysanthemum wine has become a ritual, not just for its disease repelling qualities, but for encouraging long lives. In the royal houses from the Tang Dynasty, they appreciated chrysanthemum and cornelius cherry on the Double Nine day for their symbolism of longevity.
In modern days, even the mountain climbing has been replaced. The words in Chinese to refer to the mountain climbing practice 登高 (deng gao) means to ascend to a high place. So, instead of climbing mountains, we have taken the words literally, which means we go somewhere high. So if you live in a high rise building, climbing the stairs home should do. Being where we are, Macao Tower should be the best spot to climb up. But why do we need to climb to a high place nowadays?
One belief that is closer to the original is that we climb high on that day to avoid plagues or any other forms of bad luck. Another belief comes from the saying 步步高升 (getting higher with each step) implying career advancement. For the latter, you also need to eat Chung Yeung cakes, as ‘cake’ has the same pronunciation as ‘high’ in Chinese. By climbing high and eating ‘high’ you will be promoted.
So, this coming Monday, be sure to take yourself somewhere high, drink chrysanthemum wine for longevity and eat cake for career advancement, while avoiding diseases and enjoying good luck.